


Thinking about you

by LightsUpInTheNorth



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Billy survived Starcourt and now Steve and he are buddies, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstanding, Post-Season/Series 03, Somewhat, Steve's Pov, Telepath Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23770324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightsUpInTheNorth/pseuds/LightsUpInTheNorth
Summary: Ever since he had been drugged by the Russians, Steve could sometimes hear people’s thoughts. He couldn’t control it, and it didn’t happen all that often, but it was becoming more and more frequent. It had freaked him out, at first, and now it just made him miserable. He wished it would just stop.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 183





	Thinking about you

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a ficlet I couldn't get out of my mind. I hope you'll like it :)

Ever since he had been drugged by the Russians, Steve could sometimes hear people’s thoughts. He couldn’t control it, and it didn’t happen all that often, but it was becoming more and more frequent. It had freaked him out, at first, and now it just made him miserable. He wished it would just stop. 

Really, he didn’t need to hear Keith insulting his intelligence (he did that out loud plenty enough), or his father thinking about his latest affair at the breakfast table (the rare times Steve’s parents bothered to show up in their own house), or, God forbid, Karen Wheeler daydreaming about Billy (gross).

Speaking about Billy. He was the first (and hopefully the last) to find out about Steve’s newly found ability (if you could even call it that, considering he had no control over it whatsoever). Steve had not been planning on telling him. In fact, he had been adamant about not telling anyone. 

No one would want to hang out with someone who could see inside their head, and Steve didn’t know what he’d do if his friends stopped hanging out with him. His life sucked enough as it was, he didn’t want to end up completely alone in addition to that. 

Billy and Steve had become friends after the whole Starcourt debacle. Steve had visited him pretty much every day when he was in the hospital. The accident had changed him a lot, either that or it had made the real Billy stop hiding behind his anger. 

He had been wary of Steve and his intentions, in the beginning, but he had warmed up to him soon enough, and nowadays they spent a lot of time together. He had developed a huge crush on Billy along the way, too. That probably explained why Steve had let his guard down enough to slip up in his presence. 

They had been in Steve’s kitchen, eating the dinner Steve had spent most of the evening cooking. 

Billy had said “Damn, that’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” 

And Steve had asked: “Wow, thanks. You really think so?” 

Billy had stopped eating and had stared at Steve, wide-eyed, completely frozen in place. That was how Steve had realized Billy had actually not spoken, but rather thought, his compliment. Oops. 

“What the fuck, Steve?” Billy had finally asked, finding his voice again. He hadn’t really sounded angry, but that had done nothing to reassure Steve, who’d started panicking.

“What…? I… uh…” He had searched his brain for a believable lie, but had come up empty. Stupid, he was so stupid! He had felt like crying. 

“Steve, come on, breathe.” Billy had told him, putting a hand on his over the table. 

When Steve had finally calmed down, Billy had asked: “what was that about?” and Steve had told him the truth, nervous but relieved to finally admit it to someone. 

“I… can’t control it or anything… It’s just… I hear what people think, sometimes…” 

“Does it happen often?” 

“Not really. It’s the first time I hear anything from you, in fact.” 

“Oh… so, you can’t hear any of what I’m thinking right now?” 

“No. Not a thing.” 

“Okay.” 

Billy had seemed to take it in stride. It must only have been a façade, though, because after that evening, he had started ignoring Steve. 

Steve would still see him around, sometimes, because Hawkins was a small town and they kept driving the kids around everywhere, so they were bound to cross paths. Billy was civil every time, but he never talked to Steve for long, always finding an excuse to leave quickly. And Steve might had been dumb, but he wasn’t THAT dumb. He knew Billy didn’t want to be around him anymore because of the intermittent telepathy. He thought Steve was a freak and wanted nothing to do with him anymore. 

Steve did his best to appear unbothered around the kids, but the end of his friendship with Billy had hit him hard. He had accepted since the beginning that they wouldn’t ever be more than friends, but now they weren’t even that anymore, and it hurt. Steve felt abandoned, and he spent many evenings on Robin’s couch, crying in a pint of ice-cream. He was pathetic, and if he didn’t get it together again soon, Robin would stop hanging out with him too. 

Also, she kept asking him why Billy and he didn’t spend time together anymore, but Steve stayed vague. At first, he had wondered if maybe Robin was experiencing the same problem as he was, but when he had finally asked her if she was suffering any side effect from the Russian drug, she had answered in the negative. Unfortunately, it had led to her returning Steve the question. Of course, it had. So, he had lied, saying that sometimes he didn’t want to tell the truth but couldn’t help but tell it anyway.

No one else could find out about the telepathy. He wouldn’t be able to deal with Robin leaving him too, or the kids looking at him like he was some freaky science experiment. There was a chance they’d like it. They were weird like that. But Steve wanted to be their friend, not their science project. 

He heard their worried thoughts about him often, these days, but he didn’t do anything about it. He felt bad about preferring to keep his secret over reassuring the kids, but he just… he just couldn’t bring himself to tell them. 

“Why are you and Billy not hanging out anymore?” After Robin’s insistent questioning had finally stopped, Max was taking over. Just Steve’s luck. 

“We’ve just been busy with our own stuff.” 

And wasn’t that the worst lie ever? As if Max didn’t know Steve was doing jack-shit beside going to his boring work and spending evenings at Robin’s. 

She rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. Steve still heard her think “ugh, boys are dumb”, and “I’m gonna kill my brother”, though. 

He nearly yelled at her not to mention anything to Billy but stopped himself right on time. 

A few hours after he had dropped Max at her house, there was a knock on his front door. Steve was moping on the couch, curled in a ball, in front of a shitty talk-show he wasn’t paying any mind to. He was planning on ignoring whoever was at the door, but the person wouldn’t quit and kept banging on his door. Honestly, what the fuck. He had a doorbell. 

“Harrington, I can see your car in the driveway. I know you’re here. Open the fucking door. Please.” 

The please was added as an afterthought but coming from Billy it still meant a lot. 

And fuck. What was he doing here? Max had talked to him, hadn’t she? Maybe Billy had told her Steve’s secret. And maybe she would tell the other kids. Oh God, no one would want to see Steve anymore. 

It didn’t explain why Billy had come here, though. It could have been to beat Steve’s face in for being a freak, but somehow that didn’t make sense. Billy wasn’t like that anymore. Plus, why wouldn’t he have done that sooner? He had known about Steve for weeks. 

Steve opened the door, trying to appear calm. 

“Hey… can I come in?” Billy asked. 

Steve nodded and stepped aside. They went to the living room but neither of them sat down. 

“Look Steve, I’m… I’m really sorry.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. That wasn’t… that wasn’t what he had been expecting. 

“I freaked out… about what you told me the other night. I just… I was afraid you would hear what I think about you. But that doesn’t excuse what I did. I shouldn’t have just started ignoring you like that. I should have told you the truth. I was a coward and I’m sorry.” 

What did Billy mean? Had he never liked Steve? Had he just been tolerating his presence all along? It had to be it… why wouldn’t he have wanted Steve to hear his thoughts if they had been positive? 

It sadly made sense… Steve had been the one initiating their friendship, after all. 

“Oh… well… Thanks for apologizing. And yeah, you should have talked to me, and you didn’t have to spend all this time with me if you didn’t feel like it. It was nice of you to try, though.” Steve rambled, fidgeting with his hands. 

“Hey, hey, Steve, what the hell are you on about?” 

“Well, you obviously never wanted us to be friends, but you played along for my benefit. It’s fine, I get it.” 

“Uh uh, sorry but no, pretty boy, you don’t ‘get it’. You’re getting it all wrong.” 

Steve dropped his gaze. Of course he was getting all wrong. He was stupid. 

“Steve, listen to me, please.” 

Something in Billy’s tone made Steve look up again.

“I didn’t want you to hear what I think about you because… because I have feelings for you… the romantic kind, I mean. So, I fled, because you obviously don’t feel the same way, and I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship. But hey, would you look at that, I ended up ruining it anyway.” 

Billy laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Now, you’re the one getting it all wrong Billy.” Steve said, his expression not giving away anything. 

“You mean you still want to be friends?” he looked as hopeful as surprised. 

“No, I don’t want to be friends.” 

Billy’s face fell, and that just would not do, so Steve took the two strides separating him from Billy and pulled him by the collar of his shirt until their lips collided. Billy moaned, either from the surprise or the kiss or a bit of both. And when they settled in Steve’s bed later on, cuddling together, and that Billy thought “Fuck, I love him so much”, Steve decided that the telepathy might not have been the worst thing to happen to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> This was super rushed and I hope it didn't suck too much ^^  
> Comments are absolutely welcome ;) 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr: https://lightsupinthenorth.tumblr.com/ feel free to hit me up. 
> 
> Have a nice day/night :D


End file.
